As is the case with many AP classes, there isn't enough time in the regular school year to cover all the material—content and skills—in the AP Physics course. You're already familiar with the idea of a "summer reading assignment" for your English classes. In the same way, spending 6-8 hours this summer preparing for your study of physics will

Instructions

To complete the AP Physics Summer Assignment, go through each of the items in the list below, in order. If you find anything that doesn't seem to make sense or doesn't open properly, don't panic.  Just let me know and I'll make the fix.  In any case, if you have any questions at any point, don't hesitate to reach out and ask (contact information here). Also, be aware that you will have a test on the material covered below ON THE SECOND DAY OF CLASS, which for us will be Thursday, August 25.                                        

List of Items for AP Physics Summer Assignment

  1. Watch this video introducing your instructors. (5 minutes)
    Bonus feature: out-takes at the end... :)
  2. **Dig around this website a little (3 minutes plus 15 minutes if you do #3, 4 and 5 at the same time)
    As you'll be interacting with this site fairly often, take some time to take a look. You should probably do #3, 4 and 5 while you are there.
  3. **Read the Course Policies file on the Home page of the Class Web site (10 minutes)
    This sounds like a bore, but there is important information that you need to know here. Settle in and read it all. (It's found under "About the Class" in the document that comes up when you click on the "Things You Need To Know About This Course" at the top of the left-hand column of your Web page.)
  4. **Check out the Course Calendar file on the Home page of the Class Web site (5 min)
    The calendar is always subject to change and will tell you not only what the homework is on a particular day, it will identify what will be covered in class on that day.  I would suggest you check it daily.  I would also suggest you bookmark it.  Also, assignments will be listed on MyPoly, but only in bare-bone form.
  5. **Look into the Class pfds folder. Open one of the folders inside that folder. You should find a file of homework problems, solutions to those problems (both Fletch's and Mr. White's version), and the PowerPoints that will be used in class (both in PowerPoint and pdf form) for both Fletch's section AND for Mr. White's section. Take a look. Know what and where your resources are.
  6. Download and print the AP Physics C Equation Sheets (5 min)
    You will use equation sheets like these when you take the AP Physics exams next May. In the meantime, you're free to use this one on assignments in this class, INCLUDING UNIT TESTS—make sure you keep a copy in your notebook at all times!
  7. Download the textbook (5 minutes)
    This course uses an open-source textbook from Rice University's OpenStax project. There are two textbooks we will use (one for each semester):
    --University Physics Vol 1
    --University Physics Vol 2
  8. Download the Student Solution Guide for each of those books by using those same links; click on the Student Resources tab for each book to find the guide. Note that you may use the solutions from this guide to check your work and provide insights into how to solve a problem. You should not simply copy the work from here without understranding how the problem is being solved.
  9. Watch the Video Screencast, part 1 (30 minutes)
    This lecture is intended to prepare you for the first homework assignment. Take notes if you wish.
  10. Do Kinematics Homework assignment #1 (30 min)
    1. Read sections 3.1 and 3.2 in the on-line textbook University Physics Vol 1 if you feel you need more information than was given in the video. Note that during the year, most reading assignments in this course will be optional. You may pick up all the information you need from our in-class discussions, but these sections will be provided as a reference should you miss class or wish to explore a topic in more detail.
    2. **Skim the Homework Guidelines page, which describes and demonstrates what your written homework should look like (there is an example at the end).
    3. **Watch the six-minute video Mr. White has provided at How to do Physics Homework. It presents a very quick and dirty way to present homework problems to be turned in. It does not encourage the more formal outline approach presented in the video formatting a derivation, which you will be expected to use in formal lab write-ups (you can watch that video or not), and it uses a shorthand notation for scientific notation that you don't normally find in typical physics classes (but do find on your calculator). The point is that although the video will highlight practices that are not generally encouraged in college physics courses, it will give you a very good, utilitarian approach to presenting homework in this class. There are some important points in his video. Watching the entire six minutes.
    4. Do Problems 25, 27, 29, 30, 33, and 35 from University Physics Vol 1, Chapter 3.
    5. **Please note: You will be doing problems from the OpenStax text for the Summer Session work, but for Fletch's section during the school year, the problems you will be doing will be found in files found on the class Web site--more about this later.
    6. Not sure if you did the homework problems correctly? Take a look at the Student Solution Guide you were instructed to downloade in #6 above. And if the answer to a problem has a different number of significant figures or is off by a small amount, that's usually not a reason to worry—those differences can legitimately happen when using different strategies to solve the problem.

    **Turning in homework

    Ordinarily, you would turn in your homework assignments each day at the beginning of class. For this Summer Assignment, however, you should gather together all your work in order (Assignment #1 on top, #3 on the bottom), staple the entire mass together and turn it in on the day you take the test in class.    

  11. Fill out the secure student info form (10 min)
    This will provide some important contact info for me, and allow me to get to know you a little before we get started in August.
  12. Watch the Video Screencast, part 2 (30 minutes)
    Some of the finer points in the chapter, explained.
  13. Do Kinematics Homework assignment #2 (40 min).
    1. Read sections 3.3 and 3.4.
    2. Do Problems 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 49, 53 and 57.
  14. Watch the Video Screencast, part 3 (30 minutes)
  15. Do Kinematics Homework assignment #3 (30 min).
    1. Read sections 3.5 and 3.6.
    2. Do Problems 67, 69, 71, 78 and 79.
  16. Check out LearnAPphysics.com
    This website is a side project by Mr. White's. No, you don't have to follow @learnAPphysics on Twitter, but you will (probably) do better in this class if you take advantage of the opportunity.
  17. View this video on the interesting two-car problem.
  18. View this video on the challenging bolt and elevator problem.
  19. Print out and take the Practice Test (2 hrs)
    This test is approximately the same length and difficulty as a typical unit test that we'll be taking throughout the school year, although it will almost certainly feel easier than future tests—you have already learned most of this material during your freshman year, after all! Answers / Solutions are included at the back of the Practice Test. Questions? Don't understand something? Talk to me!
  20. **FOR THE INTREPID: (i.e., stuff that isn't required but that is fun and might strikes your fancy if you like artwork and/or have an inquiring mind . . . assuming you aren't completely exhausted):
    1. Lab cover artwork is not a requirement and receives no points for its execution, but its use for the last forty years as a kind of psychological catharsis for the terminally beaten-down physics student has been widespread . . . and it has generated some wicked fine artwork. If you're up for the thrill, check it out. (This is also provided on the class Website) . . . And if you are going to take a look, I'd suggest you zoom-in a couple of times to get the full effect of the covers presented big.
    2. If you are someone who identifies with the Arts program here at Poly, you probably found yourself nodding in vigorous agreement repeatedly while reading Hunter’s Worland’s “Paw Print” article a few year back castigating the school for letting the science department get away with having “extra class time with students." Beause he got it so terribly wrong, and because he was a student of mine and someone I liked, I wrote him a letter explaining what is really going on with the situation. If you have an interest in the question and are at all willing to come out of the dark, you can read what I wrote at Why Does the Science Department Get More Time? (This is also provided on the class Website.)
    3. At the end of the year, I asked my 2018 AP Physics class to write out two or three bits of advise that would have made their lives easier if they'd only known, the intention being that that advise be passed on to subsequent classes (like yourself).  If the spirit moves you, you can read what they suggested at  Advice from the Class of 2018.   (This is also provided on the class Website.)

You're Done!

The start of the school year is always an exciting time. I hope you'll find that these introductory activities give you a good start to the school year. Again, a second reminder: YOU WILL BE HAVING A TEST ON THE SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL.  Be cool. It won't be a hassle if you are prepared.

I'm looking forward to working with you. See you soon!